One-Man Epic an Attention-Keeper
Theatre Review
By CLEM GORMAN
Glen Berger’s UNDERNEATH THE LINTEL, by Three River Theatre and Centr Stage at the Annexe Theatre, Inveresk
One-person plays are difficult to stage successfully because they depend on the virtuosity of one actor, who must obey T. S. Eliot's dictum - 1: Hold the audience's attention; 2: Don't lose it; 3: Repeat 1 and 2.
Stan Gottschalk holds our attention masterfully in this 1 1/4 hour New York play, skillfully directed by Stuart Loone, which starts when a librarian discovers a book has been returned after 113 years.
Some one-person plays use the device of having the actor play numerous roles. In this one Gottschalk plays only the librarian. But he completes such an amazing journey, in time, in space and in a sense beyond both, that this play assumes the form of an epic.
It is a remarkable achievement for such a restricted and limited form as the one-person play to embrace such a breadth of places, themes and ideas.
Most epics involve a journey of the avatar hero who represents and leads a community towards a promised land or empire. In this play Gottschalk transforms an obscure librarian into an epic hero whose journey leads us towards our own best dreams and highest ideals.
The set is utilitarian and the lighting and sound minimal, but the actor uses a blackboard and a slide projector to create, almost, other characters on stage.
Patrons will inevitably compare this play with Mel Gibson's film The Passion Of The Christ, and the play will not suffer by the comparison.
Humorous, mysterious and never dull, this is a journey of the soul with the power to transform.
This performance continues at the Annexe Theatre, Inveresk, until Saturday.
Contact
You can send a message to us at: stan@stanspage.com
Welman Street Film Society
List of Films
|
Title |
Director |
Country |
|
1. The Last Picture Show |
Peter Bogdanovich |
USA |
|
2. In the Heat of the Night |
Norman Jewison |
USA |
|
3. Padre Padrone |
Taviani Bros. |
Italy |
|
4.Lawrence of Arabia |
David Lean |
UK/USA |
|
5. La Strada |
Federico Fellini |
Italy |
|
6. La Regle Du Jeu |
Jean Renoir |
France |
|
7. Amarcord |
Federico Fellini |
Italy |
|
8. Psycho |
Alfred Hitchcock |
USA |
|
9. The Passenger |
Michelangelo Antonioni |
Italy |
|
10. The Seven Samurai |
Akira Kurosawa |
Japan |
|
11. My Man Godfrey |
Gregory LaCava |
USA |
|
12. Room at the Top |
Jack Clayton |
UK |
|
13. Blazing Saddles |
Mel Brooks |
USA |
|
14. Wings of Desire |
Wim Wenders |
Germany/France |
|
15. Nashville |
Robert Altman |
USA |
|
16. Double Indemnity |
Billy Wilder |
USA |
|
17. The Conformist |
Bernardo Bertolucci |
Italy |
|
18. King of Hearts |
Philippe de Broca |
France |
|
19.M. Hulot’s Holiday |
Jacques Tati |
France |
|
20. Grande Illusion |
Jean Renoir |
France |
|
21.All About Eve |
Joseph Mankiewicz |
USA |
|
22.Paths of Glory |
Stanley Kubrick |
USA |
|
23.Rashomon |
Akira Kurosawa |
Japan |
|
24.The Trial |
Orson Welles |
France |
|
25.Network |
Sidney Lumet |
USA |
|
|
|
|
|
First Welman St Film Festival |
Director Theme - France |
|
|
26. Le Corbeau |
Henri-Georges Clouzot |
France |
|
27. Wages of Fear |
Henri-Georges Clouzot |
France |
|
28. Les Diaboliques |
Henri-Georges Clouzot |
France |
|
|
|
|
|
29. Eye of the Needle |
Richard Marquand |
UK |
|
30.Breathless |
Jean Luc Goddard |
France |
|
31.The Bedford Incident |
James B. Harris |
USA |
|
32.Tabu |
Miguel Gomes |
Portugal |
|
33. Through a Glass Darkly |
Ingmar Bergman |
Sweden |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Second Welman St Film Festival |
National Theme - Italy |
|
|
34. Journey in Italy |
Roberto Rosselini |
Italy |
|
35. Il Divo |
Paolo Sorrentino |
Italy |
|
36. Marriage Italian Style |
Vittorio de Sica |
Italy |
|
|
|
|
|
37. North By Northwest |
Alfred Hitchcock |
USA |
|
|
|
|
|
Third Welman St Film Festival |
Genre Theme- International Heist/Caper Films of the 1950s |
|
|
38. The Killing |
Stanley Kubrick |
USA |
|
39. The Lavender Hill Mob |
Charles Crichton |
UK |
|
40. Rififi |
Jules Dassin |
France |
|
41. Big Deal on Madonna Street |
Mario Monicelli |
Italy |
|
|
|
|
|
42. Death in Venice |
Luchino Visconti |
Italy |
|
43. Don't Look Now |
Nicholas Roeg |
UK/Italy |
|
44. The Roundup |
Miklos Janczo |
Hungary |
|
45. Bringing Up Baby |
Howard Hawks |
USA |
|
46. Tender Mercies |
Bruce Beresford |
USA |
|
47. Lilies of the Field |
Ralph Nelson |
USA |
|
48. A Man Escaped |
Robert Bresson |
France |
|
49. Shane |
George Stevens |
USA |
|
50. The Angels' Share |
Ken Loach |
UK |
|
51. A Touch of Evil |
Orson Welles |
USA |
|
52. Ivan's Childhood |
Andrei Tarkovsky |
Russia |
|
53. Room |
Lenny Abrahamson |
Canada |
|
54. Tokyo Story |
Yasujirō Ozu |
Japan |
|
55. Witness for the Prosecution |
Billy Wilder |
USA |
|
56. Andrei Rublev |
Andrei Tarkovsky |
Russia |
|
57. Broken Circle Breakdown |
Felix Van Groeningen |
Belgium |
|
58. Locke |
Steven Knight |
UK |
|
59. Silent Wedding |
Horatiu Malaele |
Romania |
|
60. Annie Hall |
Woody Allen |
USA |
|
61. Anatomy of a Murder |
Otto Preminger |
USA |
|
62. The Olive Tree |
Iciar Bollain |
Spain |
|
63. Places in the Heart |
Robert Benton |
USA |
|
64. Walkabout |
Nicolas Roeg | Australia |
|
65. The Hustler |
Robert Rossen | USA |
|
66. Elektra |
Michael Cacoyannis | Greece |
|
67. Gaslight |
George Cukor | USA |
|
68. The Power of the Dog |
Jane Campion | New Zealand |
|
69. Sunset Boulevard |
Billy Wilder | USA |
|
70. Burn |
Gillo Pontecorvo | Italy |
|
71. Dean Spanley |
Toa Fraser | UK/NZ |
|
72. In a Lonely Place |
Nicholas Ray | USA |
|
73. Sweet Smell of Success |
Alexander Mackendrick | USA |
|
74. Cinema Paradiso |
Giuseppe Tornatore | Italy |